Plant health inspection

Production inspected for quality

In order to achieve a high level of quality, professional growers have set up a very strict system for the production of seed potatoes. All the selection material comes from in-vitro culture. Following this, the first year of propagation is carried out well away from all sources of contamination, in insect proof tunnels and in disinfected substrates or in soilless culture.

Inspections, tests and recording the information that they create are carried out at all stages in the production of seed potatoes: admission to control, registration of the crop, inspection and allocation of the plots, inspection of the health status of the harvest and finally certification.

This procedure, under the aegis of the official control and certification Service (SOC), makes up the compulsory system for French seed potatoes.

 

1. Strict Growing regulations

• Admission to control : technical survey for the expertise of the grower and suitability of equipment specifically designed for the production of seed potatoes.

• Declaration of crops to SOC
The plot must be free of quarantine pests [soil analysis before planting to detect potato cyst nematodes (Globodera rostochiensis and Globodera pallida)].

The crop registration sheet records all the initial factors in the production of certified seed potatoes: name of the parent seed, identity of the grower, initial characteristics of the plot, etc.

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• Isolation:

Selected material: Minimum of 50 m from any other potato crop.
Basic material: Minimum of 10 m from any other potato crop.
Certified material: Minimum of 10 m from any other ware potato crop.

• Compulsory 4-year minimum rotation.

2. Intensive crop inspections

Three Regional Producers Establishments (EPR), with a total team of 60 inspectors and 3 specialist laboratories, under authority of the official control and certification Service (SOC), carry out intensive inspections at all stages in the production of seed potatoes:

Checking the variety identity of the initial material	Checking the absence of nematodes in the soils before planting	Inspection of the propagation plots (a minimum of 3 visits for basic seed potatoes and 2 visits for certified seed potatoes)

The plot registration sheet records all factors concerned with the crop: number of the plot, dates of visits, score for each factor, classification, etc.

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- Minimum standards expressed as percentage of affected plants

Seed potato   category	Breeding material		Basic seeds			Certified  seeds
French classes	PBTC	PB	S	SE	E	A	B
Varietal purity   (% impurity)	0	0,01	0,1	0,1	0,1	0,2	0,2
Virus   E, Y, X, S, A	0	0,1	0,2	0,33 (0,5)	0,5 (0,8)	1	3
Black leg	0	0	0 (0,1)	0 (0,5)	0,5 (1)	1	1
Black scurf   (Rhizoctonia   solani)	0	5	5	5	5	10	10
Quarantine harmful organisms:
PSTV viroids,   TSWV virus,   Ring rot   (Clavibacter michiganensis sp.   sepedonicus),   Brown rot  (Ralstonia   solanacearum),   Black wart   (Synchytrium endobioticum),   stem and bulb nematode   disease (Ditylenchus destructor)	No tolerance accepted

For subsequent generations, visual inspection is carried out in the field for black leg.

3. Inspection of the health status of the next generation
(post-harvest control)

As with the inspections of the crop and on the batches, these inspections are carried out by the specialist laboratories of the three Regional Producers Establishments (EPR),

The post-harvest control sheet records the number of the plot, the results of analysis and the classification.

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- Minimum standards expressed as percentage of affected plants

Seed   potato    category	Breeding material		Basic seeds			Certified seeds
French   classes	PBTC	PB	S	SE	E	A	B
Varietal   purity (%   impurity)	0	0	0,25	0,25	0,25	0,5	0,5
Virus   E, Y, X, M,   S, A	0	0	0,5 (1)	1 (2)	2 (4)	5	10

 

4. Inspection on the batches to be certified

1 batch = 1 plot, 1 stock, 1 class.

The laboratory sheet records the results of the analysis of the inspection on the batches.

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Les maladies responsables des altérations superficielles des tubercules (gale commune, rhizoctone) sont notées selon une échelle visuelle officielle.

- Minimum standards expressed as weight percentage of tubers

	Basic and certified seeds
Earth and extraneous matter	1 %
Misshapen or damaged tubers	3 %
Shrivelled tubers	1 %
Dry and soft rot	0,2 %
Common scab	5 %
Powdery scab	0,2 %
Superficial tuber necrosis (PTNRD)	0,1 %
Rhizoctonia   Black scurf	5 %
Wireworms   (tubers with more than 5 bites)	5 %
Damages caused   by low temperatures	2 %
Quarantine harmful organisms:
PSTV viroid,   TSWV virus,   Root knot nematodes   (Meloïdedogyne chitwoodi   and fallax), cyst nematode   (Globodera rostochiensis or pallida),   Ring rot (Clavibacter michiganensis   sp. sepedonicus),   Brown rot (Ralstonia solanacearum),   Stolbur, Black wart (Synchytrium   endobioticum), stem    and bulb nematode disease   (Ditylenchus destructor)	No tolerance accepted

Each year, the laboratories accredited by the SOC carry out: • More than 65,000 soil analyses before planting to check the absence of nematodes, • More than 1,200,000 ELISA tests to monitor the health status of the next generation (post-harvest control), • More than 25,000 analyses for quarantine bacteria.

The number of analyses carried out by the laboratories of the Regional Producers Establishments has increased steadily over the last few years as a result of the industry's wish to improve quality to levels even higher than the regulations require.